South Korea asks US for nuclear support to send 'strong message' to China

A South Korean security guard stands on the road leading to North Korea's Kaesong joint industrial complex, in front of the closed gate of the inter-Korean transit office in the border city of Paju on April 8, 2013 (AFP Photo / Jung Yeon-Je)

A South Korean lawmaker said that nuclear support from the United States is needed in order to protect against North Korea's continued aggression and unpredictability, but also to keep its larger neighbor in check.

During a trip to the United States, a powerful South Korean
politician has suggested that his country needs nuclear weapons of
its own - and not just to intimidate North Korea, but also to send
a strong message to China.

Rep. Chung Moon-joon, in a speech Monday in Washington DC, said
the Chinese have overlooked what Seoul sees as North Korea’s
aggressive tactics in favor of disputes in Tibet and Taiwan.

“In terms of North Korea, China wants to maintain the status
quo, reluctant to be active in putting pressure on it,” said.
Rep. Chung, who, in his seventh term as a lawmaker, serves as the
leader of South Korea’s ruling Saenuri Party.

Chung is scheduled to speak again on Tuesday in the second of
the two-day 2013 Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference.
According to Yonhap News, he will suggest that US politicians
provide arms to South Korea.

“Possessing nuclear weapons is the best way to counter North
Korea’s nuclear threats,” he said. “It would send a strong
political message not only to North Korea but also to
China.”

Chung, who is one of the favorites to become president of South
Korea in the country's 2017 election, also recommended that US
officials reconsider giving South Korea wartime control of its own
troops within the next two years.

“The US should halt a scheme to move the Second Infantry
Division to a base south of the Han River in Seoul,” he said.
“The US will also have to push for direct talks with North Korea
to put a top priority on the denuclearization issue.”

It’s not the first time a South Korean lawmaker has pressured
the US for nuclear support, but the idea has gained traction on the
peninsula after recent provocations from North Korean leader Kim
Jong-un. That tension escalated again Monday with North Korea’s
announcement that 51,000 workers would be recalled from a factory
shared with the South, a major step toward ending economic
ties.

Other South Korean leaders recanted statements Monday from
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, who previously said “there
is an indication” of activity around North Korea’s nuclear test
site. South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said
Monday that, while there are vehicles in the area, none of the
events around the test site are unusual.

Despite the ongoing rhetoric Kim Sung-han, an international
relations expert at Korea University in Seoul, doubted the two
countries would descend into war. He told USA Today that, if North
Korea does appear to be testing nuclear weapons, it’s only evidence
that Kim Jong-un is desperate for power.

“This problem of power consolidation is his gigantic task to
accomplish in a short period of time,” Kim said, adding that
the North Korean leadership is “gradually losing domestic support”
with a chance of an outbreak of public discontent.

"It’s always helpful to remind the people that their country
is surrounded by evil and scheming enemies, and only the leader and
the army can keep the country secure.”

Industrial park squabble

Discord between the two Koreas continued on Tuesday, with the
North upholding its promise to shut down a joint industrial park.
North Korean laborers didn’t show up for work at the Kaesong zone
in the morning, effectively suspending operations. Earlier,
Pyongyang refused to allow South Korean workers to enter the area,
located a few kilometers inside the North’s territory.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said that North Korea is
undermining its credibility as a place to do business with its
decision to close Kaesong. "Investment is all about being able
to anticipate results and trust and when you have the North
breaking international regulations and promises like this and
suspending Kaesong while the world is watching, no country in the
world will invest in the North," Park said during a Cabinet
meeting.

There are about 475 South Koreans remaining at Kaesong; Seoul
plans for 77 to return home on Tuesday. Many are reluctant to
leave, as they are worried about the impact their departure would
have on their businesses and jobs. Representatives of companies
based in Kaesong have held an emergency meeting to address the
problem.

The joint industrial park is home to a number of South Korean
textile factories and similar enterprises, employing some 50,000
North Korean workers. It has been operating since 2004, when a
‘sunshine policy’ period in the South opened the door for
rapprochement between the two adversaries. Kaesong is considered
one of Pyongyang’s major sources of wealth. The North’s willingness
to jeopardize the zone came as a surprise to many experts, who
believed the tensions would not escalate past belligerent rhetoric
and demonstrative gestures.